((Managed to get internet at the public library for a few hours today so I got a few posts done!))


I smelt them perhaps, just a moment or so before they actually appeared, my handsome, somewhat frosted head lifted in the direction the scent seemed to flow from and yet with the ever changing winds atop this accursed mountain it made pinpointing whoever was approaching a little more difficult then I was used to. It smelled almost like more than one or at least….they all smelled the same but a little different all at once. I suppose I didn’t think of siblings, my mind inclined more to the belief I had attracted the attention of several pack wolves. How pleasant, a party, just for me. One day when I am grow I shall throw fabulous parties just for me too- I think celebrating oneself is a fairly acceptable reason for celebration. In fact, if my pack proves to be entirely useful I may celebrate each of them in turn as well. I chuckled softly at the thought, amused with my own internal humour before searching again for this welcoming committee I was sure to have attracted. Maybe I am not a Prince exactly, but I am still royalty and I am sure I still deserve a good welcome. I would have liked to have been a Prince though, at least, an official one. I suppose I was- sort of, just not from the direct and ruling line of Aunt Isola and Kane. Not that it mattered, I would change that in time and maybe…..maybe these three would be my companions ones day- not that the dark one looks all that happy.

At the call of hello that came almost right after my own inquiry down the den I moved to pivot neatly in place, eyes of violet gold turned upon the three males my age that had stopped a short distance away. For a moment I simply frowned, puzzled at the scent that seemed so common between them before the notion of brothers seemed to find it’s way into my mind, my gaze roaming slowly from one to the other as I regarded them before fixating upon the lighter one whom had spoken. I don’t know anything about Spirane aside from the name of his Alphess, that these were her children having escaped my notice and I suppose really that it hardly mattered- I didn’t mind who I met though someone my age was distinctly preferable. To have three of them was a pleasing enough thing- I do bring the crowds after all, it’s just a shame none of them are girls. I like girls.

“Lost? No I know where I am.”

I assured them, voice still holding those boyish, youthful tones that I thought were probably a little bit unmanly in reality and yet sounded confident to my own silver marked ears. I moved to step forward then, striding easily towards the other boys. Perhaps I should have feared them, I was outnumbered I suppose and I had no Orfiel or Jeager to back me up this time- not even any Ame and yet I was already assured that these boys were not like the others in Asteraia, soon the be re-named Hyrule Field if only to prove my point. Yes- I’d rename a land for spite, watch me. Those girls had annoyed me and I wouldn’t forget, I may not be a vengeful creature but I am a cunning one and I would remember them for a long time yet- and the trouble I was in for my efforts that day. Another blast of wind managed to permeate the rocks, tangling snowflakes into my fur as I stopped before them, moving abruptly to seat myself as I did, formed angled ever so slightly to assure they took the brunt of the wind. What? I can’t use them as wind breaks? They shouldn’t offer it if they didn’t want to be used. I had no intention of mentioning such a thing however, instead allowing my lip to quirk upward into the best grin I could manage with the knowledge of the impending destruction of my fur via snow stains and cold. Maybe I am descendent of the artic wolf- but do I have to like it?

“Hyrule, of Diveen. They told me I couldn’t climb the mountain, they said I was too small, my Aunts and Uncles that is- I wanted to prove them wrong.”

I shrugged my shoulders, it was true enough, violet gaze resting upon those before me once more with evident pride in my own achievements today.

“So I did.”

How was I to know that it was moments like this that would eventually come to mark so much of my life? That at not yet even one I had already developed a desire to prove others wrong, to be better, to be more then they said I should or could be. Maybe I shouldn’t be this way, maybe in time it would become a curse of sorts. They say my family has a curse, that it is in our blood, arrogance, ego and an inability to ever be truly content- that we always want more. Greed I suppose you’d call it, but I don’t think so, not really. I think its something else. What’s wrong with self-confidence? With ego? Why should I apologise for them? I would have laughed I think had I known that so many years ago my grandfather had stood on the mountains of Solveion before Boneclaw and asked her a question- a question almost identical to that which left my lips moments later.

“You guys look like you could use another friend and as it happens I’m inclined to offer my friendship- so what do you say, truce?”

Oh how history repeats itself. Well maybe our packs were friends and maybe really, they weren’t exactly allowed to assault me but how did I know they weren’t going to be annoyed that I had come into their land all the same? The large dark one seemed particularly broody today and I didn’t want to upset him all that much.

“I have two brothers as well, we should….hang some time.”

Hang. That seemed delightfully colloquial. I’m not even sure what it meant. Maybe they weren’t the hanging type and yet I let that easy grin rest on my features all the same, confident, assured, calm as my tail flicked behind me.

“We should be friends you know, then I can tell you what I know and you can take me somewhere out of this wind for a little bit. I went to Asteraia a few days ago, it was very….different to this pack and to mine, I’ve seen the swamp to.”

One eye lifted slightly, attempting to at least gauge their curiosity. What can I say, I’m a curious guy….with an agenda- and one who knows what friends are better had on my side then against me- but more of that later. Maybe I should visit that watery place next, or maybe now- if they turned out not to be so open to me comradery.


h y r u l eThe Once and Future King